Kukla's Korner Hockey

“Yeah, we have a lot of belief in that locker room,” Isles GM Garth Snow told ESPN.com Wednesday. “Within the last few weeks, we’ve really turned it up a notch as a team. Our specialty teams have improved. We’re just looking forward to the next game.”

Veteran netminder Evgeni Nabokov has been lights-out of late. He’s slated for unrestricted free agency July 1, which is why his name is often floated in trade rumors, but that’s not what Snow has in mind at this point.

“We have no intention of moving Evgeni,” Snow said. “He’s been great for us. His performance speaks for itself.”

There haven’t been any contract talks between the Islanders and Nabokov’s camp, but it’s not out of the question down the road.

“Yeah, we’d consider all options, we’re just not at that point yet,” said Snow. “We just finished [signing] Frans [Nielsen] and we obviously have a few other players who are unrestricted free agents in July, so we’ll just chip away at them.”

Comments

Wow. Yet another exhibit of why you shouldn’t name your backup goalie the GM.

Nabby isn’t staying: his view on the NYI is the same as it was last year when he refused to report. The NYI aren’t a playoff team, there’s nothing to be gained, there is no “run” they’re going to make.

But hey, why try to flip our only reasonable valuable asset for something when we can just wait a couple of months and let him walk getting nothing in return instead?!

However, Snow may just be using the media to say he’s hanging on to Nabakov, just to drive the asking price up more.

Posted by TheFreak on 02/10/12 at 10:19 AM ET

Haha, yeah that’s how I’d handle things if I was the GM but I don’t know if I give Snow that much credit.

Regardless of whether he’s holding his cards close to his chest or actually expressing his true sentiments, he’d be a far bigger fool if he openly talked about the goalie being in play. If interested, other GMs will still ask about Nabokov, and he’ll keep the media noise down somewhat. In theory.

Posted by
toolazytologin
on 02/10/12 at 01:36 PM ET

Haha, yeah that’s how I’d handle things if I was the GM but I don’t know if I give Snow that much credit.

Well, that’s the reason that Snow claimed Nabokov off of waivers in the first place, hoping to get something for free, so I give him that much credit at least.

he’d be a far bigger fool if he openly talked about the goalie being in play.

Would he? If he said Nabokov was in play then everyone with even a little bit of a goaltending question mark would be calling to offer him something, and everyone would know that, which would drive up the price. Coming out and saying he’s not in play immediately gives other GMs the idea that if they have interest in Nabokov then the starting point for offers will have to be higher, knowing that Snow doesn’t want to part with him, which will drive away offers.

It’s easier to drive up the price if you allow the offers to start low and then play them off one another.

It’s easier to drive up the price if you allow the offers to start low and then play them off one another.

Posted by Garth on 02/10/12 at 10:48 AM ET

There’s an outside voice and an inside voice. The GMs still know that Nabby is in play even if it says otherwise here in Kuklas Korner, and there’s nothing preventing Snow from doing his best Scott Boras impression and letting them bid against each other. Why add to the noise at this preliminary stage by spelling things out to the media?

Posted by
toolazytologin
on 02/10/12 at 02:40 PM ET

You guys remember this is Garth Snow, right?

The guy that claimed Nabby in the first place because he didn’t know the rules and thought he could immediately trade him like he was playing NHL 11 or something?